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In ancient Roman religion, the October Horse (Latin ''Equus October'') was an animal sacrifice to Mars carried out on October 15, coinciding with the end of the agricultural and military campaigning season.〔John Scheid, ''An Introduction to Roman Religion'', translated by Janet Lloyd (Indiana University Press, 2003), pp. 51–52 (online. )〕 The rite took place during one of three horse-racing festivals held in honor of Mars, the others being the two Equirria on February 27 and March 14.〔Hendrik Wagenvoort, "The Origin of the ''Ludi Saeculares''," in ''Studies in Roman Literature, Culture and Religion'' (Brill, 1956), p. 224 (online. )〕 Two-horse chariot races (''bigae'') were held in the Campus Martius, the area of Rome named for Mars, after which the right-hand horse of the winning team was transfixed by a spear, then sacrificed. The horse's head ''(caput)'' and tail (''cauda'') were cut off and used separately in the two subsequent parts of the ceremonies: two neighborhoods staged a fight for the right to display the head, and the freshly bloodied ''cauda'' was carried to the Regia for sprinkling the sacred hearth of Rome.〔Robert E.A. Palmer, ''Studies of the Northern Campus Martius in Ancient Rome'' (American Philosophical Society, 1990), pp. 16, 33, 35, 52.〕 Ancient references to the ''Equus October'' are scattered over more than six centuries: the earliest is that of Timaeus (3rd century BC), who linked the sacrifice to the Trojan Horse and the Romans' claim to Trojan descent, with the latest in the Calendar of Philocalus (354 AD), where it is noted as still occurring, even as Christianity was becoming the dominant religion of the Empire. Most scholars see an Etruscan influence on the early formation of the ceremonies. The October Horse is the only instance of horse sacrifice in Roman religion;〔C. Bennett Pascal, "October Horse," ''Harvard Studies in Classical Philology'' 85 (1981), p. 263. Two vague references in Ovid and Propertius are usually taken to refer to the October Horse, unless they preserve otherwise unknown rites.〕 the Romans typically sacrificed animals that were a normal part of their diet. The unusual ritual of the October Horse has thus been analyzed at times in light of other Indo-European forms of horse sacrifice, such as the Vedic ''ashvamedha'' and the Irish ritual described by Giraldus Cambrensis, both of which have to do with kingship. Although the ritual battle for possession of the head may preserve an element from the early period when Rome was ruled by kings,〔M.L. West, ''Indo-European Poetry and Myth'' (Oxford University Press, 2007), p. 428 (online. )〕 the October Horse's collocation of agriculture and war is characteristic of the Republic. The sacred topography of the rite and the role of Mars in other equestrian festivals also suggest aspects of initiation and rebirth ritual. The complex or even contradictory aspects of the October Horse probably result from overlays of traditions accumulated over time.〔Pascal, "October Horse," p. 287ff.〕 ==Description== The rite of the October Horse took place on the Ides of October, but no name is recorded for a festival on that date.〔Pascal, "October Horse," p. 261.〕 The grammarian Festus describes it as follows:
In a separate passage,〔Festus 246 (Lindsay).〕 the Augustan antiquarian Verrius Flaccus adds the detail that the horse's head is adorned with bread. The Calendar of Philocalus〔''CIL'' I2, p. 274.〕 notes that on October 15 "the Horse takes place at the Nixae," either an altar to birth deities ''(di nixi)'' or less likely an obscure landmark called the Ciconiae Nixae.〔 According to Roman tradition,〔Reported by the Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus, ''Roman Antiquities'' 5.13.2: "This field their ancestors had by a public decree consecrated to Mars as a meadow for horses and the most suitable drill-field for the youth to perform their exercises in arms."〕 the Campus Martius had been consecrated to Mars by their ancestors as horse pasturage and an equestrian training ground for youths. The "sacred rite" that the horse's blood became part of is usually taken to be the Parilia, a festival of rural character on April 21, which became the date on which the founding of Rome was celebrated. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「October Horse」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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